10 hours ago
Exciting adventures, Detlef, and you had mechanical skills, which I lacked. We also loved the outdoors and went on camping trips, but in less sophisticated cars, like the PEUGEOT Familiale 501. Nice memories.
Unknown commented on "Operation Lifeline Sudan, 1989-1993, in Pictures: Detlef Palm"
17 hours ago
The above, I wanted to sign: Ludo Welffens [ Fri Dec 19/ 2025 ]
Unknown commented on "Operation Lifeline Sudan, 1989-1993, in Pictures: Detlef Palm"
17 hours ago
Dear Detlef, just to finish 2025, an urge to greet from a rather different front. Timeframe : 30 years ago, landed in Khartoum. More than a decade after you began and led OLS. On my own, not knowing I was a follower of yours. 95-98, already a radically different experience. Probably believing we were bridge builders, yet with limited knowledge about drought, famine, and wars. About the dialectical nature between emergency and medium term objectives . With even less understanding of governance and basic services for all as evidence. As obvious. Yet fragile and horrendously flawed when politics mingle and mungle with these, to undertow, incredibly, intentionally. While some, albeit very incomplete, details can be found in my future writings, I wish here merely a short note on El Geneina in 1995, and in 2025. Interactively with families and communities, with local governments, and with other multi- and bilaterals, we believed prioritizing was possible. Sadly, we were wrong. Three decades went bye in a swift, and, say born today, only 30 years old in 2055. [ no stats on mortality here ] . The variable time. Detlef, this is our weakness, under and above all others, … : our concepts, what we dare - with some justification - to call Goals, are rendered obsolete from the moment we land the Twin Otter. From Sacramento USA, to Juba South Sudan, we are unable to measure time. This single phenomenon dismembers everything, « en amont et en aval « , from Wau to Mandalay, since Berlin 1885, to the end of the Third WW. Ciao.
Unknown commented on "Off-Road - The Trail Is the Treasure: Detlef Palm"
19 hours ago
Love this so much! What incredible adventures and daring drives!
21 hours ago
We also got to enjoy your old Nissan Patrol - took it back and forth from Windhoek to Lilongwe a few time back in 2002-03. We did the Lilongwe to the Skeleton Coast and back run last year... there is a bridge over the Zambezi at Kazungula now and one stop borders...
Unknown commented on "How Wokeism Drove Europe to the Brink: Thomas Ekvall"
21 hours ago
Interesting discussion. Had aid workers had a better understanding of basic economics, the outcome would also have been better.
In Response to a comment by Thomas Ekvall
Unknown commented on "Off-Road - The Trail Is the Treasure: Detlef Palm"
23 hours ago
This comment above is not « anonymous « . Ludo Welffens.
Unknown commented on "Off-Road - The Trail Is the Treasure: Detlef Palm"
23 hours ago
Thank you Detlef, with your subtle smile. Do read Sartre’s soliloqui ( 1945 ) « L’existentialisme est un humanisme « . Important, and rather unusual at that special moment in history . His words, after the end of the War, nevertheless, warn about the risks of the (in)capacity of Man to forgive, to transcend forms of violence inflicted by himself and by « the other « ( l’autre ). He was himself slightly uncomfortable with this thesis of hope, at a time when he had argued in his « Critique de la Raison Dialectique « that - ultimately - liberation was impossible without freeing oneself from ethical and spiritual, political and social compromise. Still, important to better understand today’s unconscionable moral injury,… our language emptied-from-within , by ourselves, and by the other,… [ in the end, Sartre’s hope was an expression of respect for Camus, with whom he debated the absurdity of « le Néant « . This unfinished discussion ended with Camus tragic car-accident. ] .
Neena Gupta commented on "Important Announcement: News & Views Will Close in March 2026, Unless......."
2 days ago
Oh this is sad news indeed. We so look forward to reading this weekly. Perhaps you could bring out a newsletter every month or quarter if possible?
Milada Pejovic commented on "Important Announcement: News & Views Will Close in March 2026, Unless......."
Dec 18, 2025
Dear Tom and the Team of Editors, thank you so much for keeping us, the UNICEF retirees, connected through the XUNICEF News & Views. Thank you for your hard and tireless work to keep the UNICEF family of retirees united. For eight years I was looking forward to reading the XUNICEF weekly. The Newsletter kept us in the loop with what was happening in UNICEF and in the world. It is hard to imagine that this lifeline with UNICEF will be discontinued soon. I hope that there will be more volunteers among friends and colleagues who will be willing to take over this big responsibility in the future.
With much gratitude and appreciation for everything that you have done for all of us, I wish you good health, happiness and success in everything that you will be doing.
To all: Have a peaceful and joyful holiday season and a happy new year!
Milada
With much gratitude and appreciation for everything that you have done for all of us, I wish you good health, happiness and success in everything that you will be doing.
To all: Have a peaceful and joyful holiday season and a happy new year!
Milada
Paula Claycomb commented on "Comments from Readers: 6 - 12 December 2025"
Dec 16, 2025
Many interesting comments, but not one about the few sentences in a box at the top of last week's newsletter, informing all of us that it will disappear in early 2026 if retirees or other members do not step forward. I wish I could, but am heavily involved in some important volunteer work in the US. Hoping we do not forfeit this wonderful network ...
Luis Oliveros commented on "New Israeli barrier will slice through precious West Bank farmland"
Dec 15, 2025
We have to face reality. As mentioned by one of the Palestinian victims in one of the articles, the Israelies can do whatever they like. They have the power to do, kill, destroy, steal, abuse and "clean" whoever they want. The Americans (those of the USA) too. Not to mention the Russians. It is clear that it is "America first" - like Russia. The rest don't count much. Someone would now say "The military power, stupid". Common sense, justice, international law, human rights, friends, enemies, allies, foes, .... those are, as the song goes, "parole, parole parole" - not that relevant. The world has changed.
Unknown commented on "From the Editors - 7 to 14 December 2025"
Dec 15, 2025
You have done well keeping up with this project. Have you called for volunteers and received no response?
Unknown commented on "La Dolce Vita (by Myra Rudin)"
Dec 15, 2025
Its a special part of the world. Thanks for your share.
Kul C Gautam commented on "Important Announcement: News & Views Will Close in March 2026, Unless......."
Dec 15, 2025
Dear Tom, and colleagues of the editorial team.
I join so many other colleagues in expressing a heartfelt gratitude to you, Tom and the team, for your gracious and generous labor of love in producing and sharing the XUNICEF News & Views for 8 long & productive years. It has really brought together our large family of UNICEF retirees in a fellowship of great information sharing and camaraderie. Without the News and Views, many of us would not have been in touch and would have lost our contact with what is happening in our dear UNICEF & the UN.
We all realize the burden of producing the Newsletter, and many of us do not have the skills or the bandwidth to volunteer to do so. Still, as Lou Mendez and others have suggested, perhaps there is a way through a Facebook or WhatsApp group for us at least to circulate the newsfeed from UNICEF and the UN, some of the headline news of what is happening. I really hope that some of our digitally-savvy retiree colleagues might volunteer to set up such a group. It may not be as exciting as the News & Views, but it could be better than none.
Once again, my deep gratitude and blessings to Tom & Team for the tremendous contribution you have made in uniting us in a network of solidarity, showing there is a meaningful life after UNICEF.
I join so many other colleagues in expressing a heartfelt gratitude to you, Tom and the team, for your gracious and generous labor of love in producing and sharing the XUNICEF News & Views for 8 long & productive years. It has really brought together our large family of UNICEF retirees in a fellowship of great information sharing and camaraderie. Without the News and Views, many of us would not have been in touch and would have lost our contact with what is happening in our dear UNICEF & the UN.
We all realize the burden of producing the Newsletter, and many of us do not have the skills or the bandwidth to volunteer to do so. Still, as Lou Mendez and others have suggested, perhaps there is a way through a Facebook or WhatsApp group for us at least to circulate the newsfeed from UNICEF and the UN, some of the headline news of what is happening. I really hope that some of our digitally-savvy retiree colleagues might volunteer to set up such a group. It may not be as exciting as the News & Views, but it could be better than none.
Once again, my deep gratitude and blessings to Tom & Team for the tremendous contribution you have made in uniting us in a network of solidarity, showing there is a meaningful life after UNICEF.
Myra commented on "La Dolce Vita (by Myra Rudin)"
Dec 14, 2025
Sure -- pack your bags....:)
In Response to a comment by Unknown
Myra commented on "La Dolce Vita (by Myra Rudin)"
Dec 14, 2025
Thanks Sam!
In Response to a comment by Samuel Koo
Unknown commented on "La Dolce Vita (by Myra Rudin)"
Dec 14, 2025
Can anyone move there?
Samuel Koo commented on "La Dolce Vita (by Myra Rudin)"
Dec 14, 2025
❤️❤️❤️
Bertie commented on "Consumer responsibility and Greenhouse Gases : Ramesh Shrestha"
Dec 14, 2025
Ramesh I agree with TE’s final comment “that the same forces that has repeatedly carried humanity through past crises” could provide the answers to the challenges including climate change. Once nuclear fusion and quantum computing is achieved…almost everything we currently know will be vastly enhanced.
Dec 13, 2025
History offers a powerful antidote to doomsday thinking. Time and again, humanity has been warned that catastrophe was inevitable. Population growth would outstrip food supply, resources would be exhausted, and living standards would collapse. But all those predictions have been confounded by innovation.
From the agricultural breakthroughs of the Green Revolution to successive industrial revolutions, technological progress has consistently increased productivity, reduced resource intensity, and expanded human possibilities. The world now produces more food, energy, and wealth using fewer inputs per unit than at any point in history. The lesson is not that challenges were imaginary, but that human ingenuity proved more powerful than pessimism.
Why, then, should climate change be the first global problem to which this pattern does not apply? If anything, the world is far better positioned today than it has ever been. There is vastly more scientific knowledge, capital, computing power, and incentives to innovate. Never before has humanity mobilised so much brainpower so quickly in response to a single challenge.
There is even a delicious irony here. The very technologies often portrayed as energy villains, like data centres and AI, may become the accelerators of a new clean-energy revolution. Power-hungry AI is already driving breakthroughs in battery chemistry, grid optimisation, materials science, and fusion research. Demand, after all, is one of the most reliable engines of innovation.
None of this implies complacency. Climate change is a serious problem. But history strongly suggests that the solution will not come from self-denial and economic contraction, but from the same force that has repeatedly carried humanity through past crises: technology, ingenuity, and growth.
From the agricultural breakthroughs of the Green Revolution to successive industrial revolutions, technological progress has consistently increased productivity, reduced resource intensity, and expanded human possibilities. The world now produces more food, energy, and wealth using fewer inputs per unit than at any point in history. The lesson is not that challenges were imaginary, but that human ingenuity proved more powerful than pessimism.
Why, then, should climate change be the first global problem to which this pattern does not apply? If anything, the world is far better positioned today than it has ever been. There is vastly more scientific knowledge, capital, computing power, and incentives to innovate. Never before has humanity mobilised so much brainpower so quickly in response to a single challenge.
There is even a delicious irony here. The very technologies often portrayed as energy villains, like data centres and AI, may become the accelerators of a new clean-energy revolution. Power-hungry AI is already driving breakthroughs in battery chemistry, grid optimisation, materials science, and fusion research. Demand, after all, is one of the most reliable engines of innovation.
None of this implies complacency. Climate change is a serious problem. But history strongly suggests that the solution will not come from self-denial and economic contraction, but from the same force that has repeatedly carried humanity through past crises: technology, ingenuity, and growth.
Unknown commented on "Important Announcement: News & Views Will Close in March 2026, Unless......."
Dec 13, 2025
You're closing down just when it is getting interesting!
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